On Wednesday members of the Slovak Cabinet voted to approve the draft amendment to the Constitution that is to ban export of water from Slovakia.
The fourth article of the Constitution is to read that mineral resources, caves, ground water, natural healing resources and streams are in the ownership of the Slovak Republic and also that water drawn from water resources in the territory of Slovakia cannot be transported outside the republic via pipes or in containers. However, drinking and mineral water, bottled in consumer packages, will still be free for exports. The bill was sponsored by Prime Minister Robert Fico, Parliamentary Speaker Pavol Paška and Environment Minister Peter Žiga. The opposition is not content with the bill, accusing the government of wanting to privatise water. A number of petitions against it were launched by opposition MPs, environmentalists and water management experts. According to them, water exports abroad are not enabled under the existing legislation and such an option will be introduced only via this amendment. The Environment Minister Žiga rejects this as nonsense. The draft passed by the Cabinet is now off to parliament.
